Parolin: The Synod proclaimed the Gospel of the family despite what media reports said

According to the cardinal, too often, stories have sadly given biased accounts of the facts. The double synodal assembly communicated the good news in the context of “the difficult and complex conditions of our time”

The Vatican Secretary of State.

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Pubblicato il
30/12/2015

Ultima modifica il 30/12/2015 alle ore 18:08

iacopo scaramuzzi

vatican city

The double Synod on the family, the Extraordinary assembly of 2014 and last October’s Ordinary assembly, constituted “a great effort on the part of the Church to proclaim the Gospel of the Family, despite media reports which, sadly, have too often given biased accounts of the facts,” the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin said, adding that the synodal assembly communicated the good news bearing in mind the context of “the difficult and complex conditions of our time” and “adopted the attitude of the good Samaritan in relation to all fragile, vulnerable and wounded family situations”.

Last Sunday, on the feast of the Holy Family, the Schiavon-born cardinal celebrated mass in the parish of the Holy Trinity in Schio, in the northern Italian diocese of Vicenza, when he began his ministry. The cardinal went on to bless the new parish hall.

Although there are no “perfect families, this must not discourage us: love is always born and develops, experiencing peaks and troughs. But one can learn to love, love can be lived and can grow if we “work at it”, depending on each family’s life circumstances,” Vatican newspaper reports Parolin saying.

The Secretary of State urged people to pray for all “families to keep the doors to their hearts wide open, to let love in.” This love being first and foremost a promise, a decision, commitment, sacrifice. God managed to come into the world through a family,” he explained, quoting Pope Francis, “because its heart was open to love”. Of course, the cardinal said he was aware of the fact that in families “the mystery of the cross is ever-present”. But, he added, since “the cross and the resurrection are two aspects of love” and “this is so because the cross is the pinnacle of love” and so the family “is the place of the cross and the resurrection” par excellence “because it is a place of love: the place where we love and learn to love; where we gradually learn the meaning and the value of love, we learn to invest in others and we come to realise it was worth it”. This, Parolin said, “is precisely what God dreams about. The family is a living symbol of the plan of love the Father dreamed of one day”. So, “wanting to have a family means having the courage to be part of God’s dream”.

Parolin went on to speak about the bishops’ double Synod on the family, to emphasise the fact that it constituted “a great effort on the part of the Church to proclaim the Gospel of the Family, despite media reports which, sadly, have too often given biased accounts of the facts,” the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin said, adding that the synodal assembly communicated the good news bearing in mind the context of “the difficult and complex conditions of our time” and “adopted the attitude of the good Samaritan in relation to all fragile, vulnerable and wounded family situations”. The cardinal continued, saying that in order for this to happen, “the flame of love in the family” needs to be “constantly” kept alive “with prayer and forgiveness”. Pope Francis himself “never tires of reminding us of the importance of prayer in the family,” referring to the latter as “a school of forgiveness, a great gym where we practice reciprocal giving and forgiveness”.